To find the smell of Saigon inside Ho Chi Minh City, you have to look for the carts and small stalls filled with food and drinks carried by the wind of the last days of the year to the noses of passersby. The Thanh Xuan noodle shop at the corner of 62 Ton That Thiep Street, District 1 is exactly the same.
A noodle shop without a fancy signboard or flashy lights. There are only a few tables and chairs with old values, yet it is still crowded until today.
Ms. Vo Thi Tuoi next to her noodle shop with a traditional handwritten sign
The noodle shop of time
Mr. Thanh (63 years old, owner) said that the restaurant was established by his grandfather, Do Van Khue, in 1946 after coming to Saigon. Relatives call the restaurant by the more popular name of Hu Tieu Chua Cha, because the restaurant is located next to a Hindu temple established by the Cha Va community.
Ms. Tuoi, Mr. Thanh's wife and also the owner of Thanh Xuan restaurant, said: "The name Thanh Xuan comes from my husband's name. In the past, he was the most loved person in the family, so my father used his name, Xuan Thanh, reversed to Thanh Xuan, as the name of the restaurant."
Then, when he was old and weak, but seeing that his profession could support his family, Mr. Khue passed the profession on to his daughter. The daughter then continued to pass it on to the family of the youngest child, Mr. Thanh and Mrs. Tuoi. Up to now, Thanh Xuan noodle soup has had 4 generations selling.
Ingredients to make a bowl of famous Thanh Xuan tea
The neat little kitchen is located right at the beginning of the alley.
Mr. Khue's shrimp and crab noodle dish with unique sauce at that time was a combination of traditional My Tho noodle dish with modern Saigon's taste. The pearl of the far east in the past was only confined to a few inner city districts, so for the civil servants of that time to invite each other to eat noodle soup, it could only be Thanh Xuan noodle soup.
At that time, the restaurant had tables stretching all the way down the alley to the street, but there was not enough space for the customers. The first generation of customers still eat Hu Tieu to this day, some of them are nearly 90 years old. Then there are families with many generations who have eaten My Tho Hu Tieu at Thanh Xuan restaurant from grandfather to grandson.
Regular customers from previous generations continue to support this long-standing noodle shop.
77 years of preserving a flavor
Nearly 77 years have passed, but the flavor of this place is still unmistakable. The first thing to mention is the restaurant's famous My Tho dry noodles. Thanh Xuan's dry noodles are not the same as the dry noodles of the Chinese in Cho Lon. The owner pours a special tomato sauce over the noodles, making them more flavorful. The noodles here are mixed with tapioca starch, so when boiled, they are clearer and chewier. Many diners come here just to feel how carefully the noodles are made.
The soul of a bowl of noodles is this special sauce.
The most special dish to mention is Pate Chaud served with Hu Tieu, an extremely rare culinary combination. One thing that few people know is that Pate Chaud has a French name but is a creation of Vietnamese cuisine. The cake is a variation of the French Pâte feuilletée cake, the crust is made from puff pastry dough and the filling is a pate dish including minced meat, pork liver, onions, spices and a little pepper. Vietnamese people often pronounce the name of the cake as Pateso. Pate here is simply the cake filling that will have the aroma of pate and the word "so" is the pronunciation of the word "chaud" from French. "Chaud" means hot. Perhaps that is why the cake is best eaten when freshly baked.
The pate Chaud at the restaurant has been modified to suit the taste of Saigon people. The cake is torn into small pieces and mixed with rice noodles, a popular dish among the civil servants of old Saigon.
Pate Chaud cake served with rice noodles is very unique
According to the shop owner, they only make 100 a day and sell them out within the day, so anyone who wants to enjoy them should come early.
The shop opens from 6:30 am to 1-2 pm on weekdays, and on weekends it opens until evening. Mrs. Tuoi said: "I sell like that and don't dare to take a break. Many times, I have regular customers from abroad who come to visit me. They have only been in Vietnam for a few days but can't eat Hu Tieu, so they feel sad."
"Youth" of an old Saigon
Nowadays, when the pace of life is increasingly hurried and busy, old values are often unintentionally forgotten. But at Thanh Xuan shop, the charming image of Saigon is always present. Mrs. Tuoi pointed to the faded handwritten sign: "The sign looks like that, but back then, a Westerner kept asking to buy it, but I didn't sell it. I kept it as a souvenir, of my grandparents and parents, so how could I sell it? Besides, where can I find someone who can draw the same typeface as in the old days?"
Ms. Hoa Cuc (Mrs. Tuoi's daughter) will be the next generation to preserve the family's traditional flavor.
Ms. Hoa Cuc, Mrs. Tuoi's daughter, still follows her mother every day to help her sell, very skillfully making a delicious bowl of noodles just like her mother did. Surely in the future, the person who continues to preserve the unique flavor of the dry noodles here will be none other than her. And so, from generation to generation, a unique feature, an ancient culinary feature of Saigon is preserved.
